The Silicon Valley of seed breeding is in the northwest of Holland, about an hour from Amsterdam. Everyone here seems in one way or another connected to agriculture through seeds. The tiny town of Warmenhuizen is the Netherlands’ Palo Alto equivalent, the home of Bejo Seeds, a company with roots dating back to 1899. It’s tempting to think of Bejo as the Facebook of Holland’s Silicon Valley—a multinational corporation with offices in more than 30 countries, with staggering seed sales, and a global reach (there’s a good chance you’ve eaten a Bejo variety vegetable in the last few days). But unlike Facebook, the company is quiet, family owned, intensely private, and sells their seeds through third parties to remain, at least to most of the world, relatively unknown. What amazes me—and there is no shortage of amazings here—is the amount of physical space, machinery, expertise, and passion driving quality seed. We, or rather I, often talk about good agriculture in relation to size. The smaller the better. But Bejo proves otherwise. Laser focused on quality seed, disease resistance for farmers, and overall support for anyone growing their vegetables, they have become a behemoth through discipline and a cult-like devotion to plowing earnings back into research, year after year. With no GMO’s and little interest in the mega-hydroponic farms of the future, they are betting on the world eating more vegetables grown in soil. I wouldn’t blame you for doubting that logic, but if it happens, it just might be because of Bejo.